STATter 911

From the STATter 911 Archives: The more things change ... .February 2, 1975 and IAFF Local 36 President Dave Ryan has written a letter to the editor. The main topic is a lack of walkie-talkies on the ambulances and how it impacted a CPR case. In those days DCFD was running 10 ambulances (no medic units yet) and handling a little less than 75,000 calls each year. Dave Ryan called it an "enormous workload" and pointed out that most calls were of a "non-emergency nature". Both issues are still a problem today. Except now there are a combination of 37 ALS and BLS units handling about 120,000 runs. If my ciphering is correct, calls have increased about 60% and the number of transport units by 370%. DC FEMS estimates 65% of the runs are currently non-emergency. The battleground between the union and management these days is over scheduling. As we told you Friday, Local 36 announced they were notified by management that a new schedule of 12 hour-shifts will be implemented on June 22 for firefighters assigned to 90 day tours on EMS units. Back in the 70s, new firefighters handled their EMS obligation by doing a year on the ambulance. When STATter 911 requested comment about the impact of the schedule change, we were told by spokesperson Alan Etter that the "situation is still being negotiated and evolving". According to Etter, "We wouldn't speak officially on it until the final process is put in place, other than to say it's an idea that is being seriously considered".

Fighting continues as anniversary approaches in Charleston

Promotions and transfers by outgoing Chief Rusty Thomas continue to be the latest battleground in Charleston, a little more than two-weeks before the one-year anniversary of the Sofa Super Store fire. Read the latest on the dispute between Mayor Joseph Riley and Councilman Jimmy Gallant from Greg Hambrick in the Charleston City Paper.

Universal fire ruled accidental

Above is a video from the Universal Studios fire that I don't believe we brought you before. It is taken alongside some of the firefighters pouring water in from an adjacent rooftop. I don't believe that is a Hollywood special effect at the top of the video.

Here is the latest from the AP on the fire at Universal Studios:

Workers using a blowtorch on the roof of a movie set building facade at Universal Studios accidentally set a huge fire that swept through the back lot, fire officials said Monday.

Workers had been using a blowtorch to heat asphalt shingles to apply to the roof early Sunday, said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Michael Freeman. They finished about 3 a.m. and followed policy of standing watch for one hour, then left for a break, he said.

A security guard spotted the fire and reported it at 4:43 a.m., Freeman said.

The fire erupted on a streetscape featuring New York brownstone facades at the 400-acre property. It then destroyed a King Kong attraction, the courthouse square from "Back to the Future" and a streetscape featured in "Spider-Man 2" and "Transformers."

Speaking of explosions

Only information with this one is that it was recorded in April. Don't know where.

Chief can't fully explain ground hot enough to burn child's foot

Battalion Chief Kent Matthews told KOAA-TV, "In my twenty-four years I haven't witnessed this kind of occurrence".

A strange set of circumstances in Colorado Springs, CO. An eight-year-old boy wearing Croc style shoes has second degree burns to his feet and the shoes have big holes with burned edges. The ground where the child was walking is hot. How hot? Here is what Chief Matthews says:

"The highest temperature we got at the surface of the soil with the sun shining on it was eight hundred degrees, which is pretty darn significant. Radiant heat from the sun will get it up around one hundred fifty, one hundred sixty degrees, but not to that level."

Here is more from KOAA-TV:

Firefighters have taped off the area and are monitoring it until they can figure out what's causing the ground to get so hot. Tests by hazmat team members show there are no dangerous gases. Crews have cut a fire-line around the area to prevent the heat from potentially starting a wildfire.

Early assessments show the problem area is coal dust. Neighbors say the area has appeared blackened as long as they can remember. What has to be determined is if it was dumped here years ago or if there's something happening underground. Crews from the state geological are on the way to figure out an explanation.

Firefighter's death case thrown out of federal court

It has been almost six years since Andrew Waybright died while on a training run. The fallout over the Frederick County, MD recruit's death from hyperthermia resulted fairly quickly in some changes at the top of the department, but the lawsuit drags on.

Here is the latest from the AP:

A federal appeals court has sent back to Maryland state court a lawsuit claiming a Frederick County firefighter trainee died due to the negligence of workers at the county's Public Safety Training Center.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., dismissed the federal constitutional claims raised by Andrew Waybright's parents.

The court said the case belongs back in Frederick County Circuit Court, where it began.

The 23-year-old Waybright died in July 2002 from heat exhaustion after collapsing during a workout supervised by an officer who failed to recognize his symptoms of hyperthermia.

James and Shirley Waybright, of Gettysburg, Pa., claim the negligence of the county and its employees caused their son's death.

Niagara Street ... slowly it burns. Day long pool supply company fire in Buffalo.

Buffalo firefighters took this one step by step as they dealt all day Monday with a fire that began around 11:00 AM at a West Side pool supply company. Two firefighters were being treated for smoke inhalation around 9:00 Monday night.

Leisure Living is described as "a multibuilding complex perched above the Niagara Section of the Thruway at 1130 Niagara St".

A collapse of one structure early in the afternoon apparently caused more problems for firefighters. Excerpts from the Buffalo News:

A morning blaze inside a West Side pool supply company appeared under control until hard-to-reach flames ignited some plastic and rubber products and turned the fire into a three-alarm inferno that poured heavy, acrid smoke deep into the northwest section of the city for much of the afternoon and evening.

At least two Buffalo firefighters were confirmed to have been taken to the Erie County Medical Center with smoke inhalation by about 9 p.m. Monday. Several others also were reported to have sought treatment.

Buffalo Fire Commissioner Michael Lombardo said the fire appears to have started in the section of a three-story brick building near Gulf Street, closest to the river, but the cause was still unknown. The building formerly housed the Curtis Screw Co.

When a burning area of that building collapsed, it spread into an area of the building containing plastic and rubber pool products and quickly accelerated the fire into a much larger and dangerous inferno, prompting the third-alarm to be sounded shortly after 3 p.m.

Lombardo said the fire did involve some "pool-type" chemicals inside the building, presumably chlorine, that quickly were consumed in the blaze. At several points in the late afternoon hours, a gray-yellow cloud of smoke could be seen billowing from the building into the air.

Fire officials urged residents to stay indoors and keep their windows closed.

For the USAR crews

In case you haven't see this one, watch this video until the end. It gives a glimpse of how things get to the point of your services being needed. Earthquake collapse video from the inside.

# posted by Dave Statter @ 10:02 AM